Tagged

Hi,

I ve been tagged by ab fab azstyle:

Here goes:

What are the last three things you purchased?

Carolina Herera Perfumes,scarves and a summer frock

What are the last three songs you downloaded?

Yo Yo Ma-Bach

The Ting Tings-That's not my name

Tuck and Patti's-Time after time

Where were the lasts three places you visited?

UK,Saudi Arabia,Langkawi(Malaysia)

What are your three favourite movies?

E.T.,Silence of the Lambs,Ordinary People

What are your three favourite possessions?

shoes, Orlinas(glass sculpture),paintings

What are the three thing's you cannot live without?

t.v.,books,my darlings

What would be your three wishes?

Greener Earth,Patience and Health for all

What are three things you have not done yet?

My guest room,Find my foster parents in Japan,Diving

What are your three fav dishes?

Kare-Kare(a filipino dish),rice and crab pineapple curry,ribs

What three celebrities would you want o hang out with the most?

Oprah,Bette Midler,Late Tan Sri P.Ramlee(i know a BIT TOO LATE NOW)

Name three things that freak you out?

Lizards,dirty floors,fumes

If you could describe yourself in three words what would they be?

Clumsy.Instinctive,Playful

Name three unusual things you are good at?

Making bad look good

Imitate people's voice

Good Nose

What are three things you currently coveting?

Make pizza ,Paint

Learn how to play pool

What three bloggers would you like to tag:

A bit tough because I don't know many

but I would like :

Prati,Nigel and Musfas

All in a week

Monday:

Can't think of a place to hang a lantern for my father-in- law's 74th birthday party which will be this Sunday.

(Expected guests 120.
Had always been at Rose's but this year we thought let's celebrate in our new house.)

Re -varnish parquet floor upstairs.

Return new carpet for washing.(It was smelling like rotten eggs.)

Had breakfast with Shashi my mentor.Lucky to catch up with her son, Sanjay who is back form UK.He is on Summer break.

On the way home ,bought a new iron.(this is the second time in a year.)

Tues:

Went to Tesco and bought drinks for party.Picked bathroom door sheers from tailor.

Floor varnishing is not done nicely.Called Grace to send someone to redo it.

Wed:

Mr Lee's boys came to paint wooden door frame before installing the Aluminium bi- fold doors .

Ordered orchids for party.

Spoke to a girlfriend for an hour.Still in love with her husband but need to file a divorce..

Asked Pak Nik to clear the store room.

Still waiting for Telekom to revert on my internet application, its been 1 month.

Wooden floor re done.

Our cctv monitoring box is not working again.Called ADT.

Air cond makes crackling noise again but this time all night.
Pat to call Ah Teik to reinspect.

The worse is yet to come!

Thursday:

Air Cond still noisy, it kept me awake.

Went all the way to Pj to buy Muphy's food.

Can't find any in KL.

Bi fold doors arrived today instead of next week.Can't fit into the frame.

The installers started to drill, hack and cut wooden floor, to make room for the doors.

And horror!!They had to cut the concrete floor too..

Dust galore!!

Inas brought 2 friends home from school .To discuss traditional Malay music.Instead they threw their school bags ,ran amok in the garden and refused to start any discussion till 6pm.

The floor drilling continued .

Uncle Rik sent the P.A. system for Sin Fan's grandchildren' s violin performance for dad's party.
6 cables and 2 humongous speakers and 2 microphones in my living room.

And at 10pm doors still not ready. Been wiping dust from 3 pm.

And scratched the wooden landing that was re varnish yesterday.

Pat got home after drinks with friends at 789.Didn't feel like kissing him with his air pollution(Aniq's expression for smelly breath).

Told workers please go home!

Fri:

Saw i ve been tagged.Yeah!

Workers back .Doors still not done!

Spring cleaning for party.

Johhny brought a new girl to help but poor thing, she's anemic .Got to follow up on her medication and doctor's appointment.

Thank God Masseur is confirmed for 5pm.

Kids back from school.

Washed Aniqs hair and to send her to piano lesson later.

Got to find pressies for tonight's wedding .And oh dear!! what to wear??.

Air Cond boys is here!

I'm PMS... ing!And all over the place.

Help!!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

And thanks for taggin me.

Mama's Kerabu

Don't have any idea what's for lunch? How about my mum's kerabu timun?(cucumber salad).

Always tasty, crunchy with a refreshing aroma.A winner with almost anything.

Here's the recipe:

1 Cucumber(myza- it is timun, your all time favourite sayur)

1 Red Chili

1 small onion

Pinch of sugar, sea salt and lemon zest

Slice all thinly.Toss in a bowl .

Chill and serve.

I love it with steamy hot rice,fried chicken and crab curry.Brrpp!

Zoo

Sunday-Bake a cake

Lemon Cocoa Cake

1 cup/1 bar (250g) butter

1 cup sugar

3 meduim size eggs

4 cups self raising flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup low fat milk

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Grated lemon rind

Beat sugar and softened butter untill sugar is dissolved.
Add eggs one by one into mixture.Fold with spatula.
Sift flour ,baking powder and cocoa.Add to mixture in batches.
Add sour cream . Add milk.
Stir in lemon juice and rind.

Grease a flat cake mould.Pour mixture into mould.
Bake at 180C or 350F-15/20mins in a preheated oven.

Cool on rack and serve.

Yummy and easy.

Let the children decorate.Have fun today!

The moon

I slept early last night,so I woke up early this morning.It was still when I peeked outside,and when I pushed the drapes I was greeted with a full moon up in the bluest morning sky.The moonlight glowed brightly into the room and the entire corridor, almost Indigo ,illuminated an out of body experience.
I stood mesmerised by it.
I basked in the soothing blinding light and a weepy bird called out for its mother. There was no one else.It was just us.The moon ,the sky and the bird.
Silence and peace ; the first time in my long and hectic week.

Work by Kahlil Gibran

And what is to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection,even as if your beloved to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Often I have heard you say,as if speaking in sleep,

"He who works in marble,and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone,is nobler than he who ploughs the soil.

"And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man,is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet".

But I say,not in sleep,but in the overwakefulness of noontide,that the winds speaks not more than the least of all the blades of grass;

And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

WORK is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste,it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference,you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes,your grudge distils a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angels,and love not the singing,

you muffle man's ears to the voices of the night!

All that i want to be

In my previous story, I told you that my mum love to sew , but i must mention this time that she also sings and loves to act.

But today, I want to share with you about my dad.

He on the other hand ,is crazy about restoring old cars, enjoys painting and has a gift to carve anything out of nothing.

So he was requested recently by his grand nephew to make a carving for the main table at his wedding which he did from Sengkuang.

(Turnip, I believe)

Here,I have a little snipet of the neck breaking process.

I'm very envious of my parents ,so talented and gifted.On top of that, they know how to have fun and tremendously enjoy what they do..

I was hoping my talent is to write.But HEEHAW; this blog just proves that I have no talent .;Sure i can write but this is it.

I have plenty of things to say and share but what is in my mind is stuck and it won't flow.The creative juice is dry.

Ah!!Its easier to talk than to write.

So this story today is dedicated to all of you who can sing ,write, act, paint ,create, design, build and sculpt.

All that i want to be.

My First Love

Chocolate never fails to light up my spirit. Growing up, I must have eaten an entire store of chocolates.

Our house then was very near a big grocery store.

They sold only imported goods .Preserves ,cake in tins and huge chocolate bars ,cornflakes and other cereals ,butters and cheeses and creamiest ice creams.

Mostly gourmet .Made in England .

Things were very expensive in that store.And the storekeepers were not the nicest people .

They would follow us around, my brother and I,or other children from the neighbourhood.

I never liked them,they were full of sweet talk, only when my dad was with us but when we were alone ,they patronised us and always wanted us to be out of the store quickly.

Perhaps we looked poor!Or perhaps at that time there were no cctv.

But many years later, when the store did not survive the financial crisis of the 80's,the owner and his partners took down the store.And most of them returned to India.But one or two stayed back and without any family or friends ,they became close to us.

My mother and father actually took care of one of them till their dying day.

Sadly,till today there's no store like that anymore, in my home town.

Have some chocolate, see you tomorrow.

A Day Without You

This morning, I was told that my daughter refused to get up and go to school.

So as I was in one of my better mood ,I let my darling husband,deal with the situation.

While seated in the dark of my room, I remembered that I have told her many times before, that no matter what happens, get up and face the world.

I had hoped that her father could talk to her and remind her of that.But all I could hear was his voice defeated.My husband's gentle soul had no might to strip her off her blanket .

So as a mother I reckoned it was time to make it simpler.I marched to her room with a stern voice and demanded her to reason with me. Not satisfied with her answer, I pulled and yanked her out of bed.

At that time I knew I'm a loser!

She got up sheepishly and she knew too that her time was up. We walked to her bathroom together and from the corner of my eye,I tried to see if she's alright.And yes,in five minutes she was ready .

And soon she left.

Sigh!She was fine but I 'm alone and so emotionally drained.

With a heavy heart i walked to her room;I took a deep breath and let a small cry out!I miss her

Tell me how you deal with

a situation like that?

Step Inside

About 2 years ago,we embarked on a search for a house .We looked at hundreds of houses. But the more we looked ,the more frustated we became.The houses were either too expensive ,too small or too big or the neighbourhood were too noisy or too congested .So the list went on and on.
But when we almost gave up ,we found this house .It was through an add in the Star.

So much so for our high expectations ;we ended up with a house which was a wreck .

But somehow at that moment ,when we stood in the shabby garden with dragonflies ,butterflies and our girls swirling by we fell in love with it and felt at home.So with trees stood tall and by its fallen gate we shook hand with the agent and bought the house.

And so the hard work began,armed with little knowledge of architecture or interior design we walked down a road of no return.

If I have more time this story of our house would be very long so.....

Enough said;please step inside :

Sit with me

Stay with me

Lay beside me

Catch me

Everlasting Beauty

My mum, many moons ago loved to sew.She sewed day and night almost on everything she likes.

This dusk pink 'baju biku'(blouse)she made in the fifties.As you can see, there re no buttons on it.So you have to secure it with a kerongsang(brooches).see pics side bar.

The sewing process is long and tedious especially the fine embroidery work.

She stopped sewing after she fell ill.

What i love is her choice of colors and patterns.Its not the same with what you can get from the other baju biku's maker.

Now she sews only for our family little new arrivals, a little flannel blanket.The blanket is hand stitched. Either with flowers and small animals for girls or car and trucks for boys.

So tell me what 's your love lately?

Mine-my blog..

..

Love

I ve tried so many times to take a good picture of Linley's candles.They re so fine and i love the feel and smell of the candles.They 're soft like butter to touch and exude the sweetest smell of spices.Rose gave it to us for our anniversary earlier this year.Each candle sits in a fine crafted wooden heart base.

Visit his gallery at http://www.davidlinley.co.uk/.